Meta

The Future is Here: The Happiness Blanket

It’s like something out of Huxley’s Brave New World: a blanket that monitors your brain activity, and takes on a corresponding color to show just how relaxed you are. Yes, it might sound like a bizarre social experiment, but in fact, it is part of a British Airways study to measure the effects of night-time travel between Heathrow and New York, a trip that takes flyers across multiple time zones.

Anyone who has ever done this knows that the jet lag can be a real pain in the ass. And for frequent flyers, jet lag has a surprisingly powerful impact on their internal clocks and circadian rhythms. Part of the problem arises from the fact that travelers are inside a metal and plastic cylinder that’s about as far from natural as possible, which poses difficulties for psychologists and others tasked with improving passenger conditions.

Using the happiness blanket, British Airways is trying to tweak those conditions to make air travel more relaxing and better suited to adjusting to a new time zone. The blanket works by using a neurosensor studded headband to measure brain waves and determine the user’s level of relaxation, while fiber optics woven into the material display this through color patterns. Red means the minimum of relaxation, and blue indicates the maximum relaxation.

Naturally, there’s also the marketing angle that’s at work here. In truth, there’s no need for the blankets to have a readout mechanism, but it is a nice way of illustrating to the public what’s going on. Using data gleaned from volunteer fliers, British Airways hopes to learn how to adjust the various factors in the cabin options and routines – including lighting, mealtimes, menus, seating positions, types of films shown, and general cabin routine.

According to British Airways, the key to these adjustments is to provide passengers with the best sleep possible on long flights, which is one reason why the airline has introduced lie-flat seating for business class and above. Better relaxation provides the brain with as few distractions as possible while traveling to different time zones, so it has a chance to adjust.

As Frank van der Post, British Airways’ managing director, brands and customer experience, said about the experiment:

Using technology like the British Airways ‘happiness blanket’ is another way for us to investigate how our customers’ relaxation and sleep is affected by everything on board, from the amount of light in the cabin, when they eat, to what in-flight entertainment they watch and their position in the seat.

I can smell an industry emerging. High-tech happiness monitoring. And with the growth in neurosensors and EEG headsets, its was really just a matter of time before someone got pro-active and decided to mass produce them. I imagine other companies will begin following suit, perhaps to monitor their employees happiness, or to gauge customer response to commercials. It all sounds so deliciously quasi-fascist!

And be sure to check out the video of the company’s promotional video: